I'm trying to locate my paternal great grandfather's family who I believe came from Portland, Maine. He was a boatbuilder by trade and sailed to Melbourne, Australia in the 1880's where he married my great grand mother, Sarah Watts.

sarah please contact me @
ddebruce@netscape.net

William Henry Bruce; born 1837, my great great great grandfather, came to Fiji from Portland, Maine. I was told that he had fought in the American Civil War as a private and was in the 16th Maine Infantry Volunteer Regiment, Company B, mustered in 1862-1865. His regiment fought in many of the major Civil War battles including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Petersburg. No one knows exactly how Bruce came to Fiji, but his occupation as a shipwright was a needed skill in 19th century Fiji. Bruce settled in Levuka, the old capital of Fiji, and is listed in the Fiji Planters and Commercial Directory of 1879. Another person listed in the same directory was a Miss Sarah Watts. On 18 May, 1881 at the Church of England in Levuka, Bruce married Sarah, an Australian spinster 15 years his junior, who came from the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. Some say she was a schoolteacher, others say she arrived with the ‘Fiji rush’ of Australian women looking for husbands in the 1870s. Like many of Fiji’s first white settlers, Bruce was a shipbuilder, island trader, and landowner who served as the American Commercial Agent in Fiji during the 1880s.

Hi John, I too am researching grandfathers' family, and I am stuck as I do not know his parent's name. I have ruled out WW/WH Bruce , husband of Lucy Hersom, that gentleman died in 1886 and also fought in American Civil War, 16 B Maine Infantry.
I have also been told that he came from Boston or Virginia, by relatives
Would appreciate any info of him please,when you do get them. thanks. stella
my email is- muffler.1@hotmail.com